Littman, Top Forecaster, Interprets
Nation's Economy Based on Midwest

David Littmann, chief economist at Comerica Inc. in Detroit, did the best job of forecasting the nation's financial twists and turns for the first half of 1998.

Unlike some previous years when economic forecasting so missed the mark that many began to question its value, the economists who participated in The Wall Street Journal's December forecasting survey did a better job than usual at predicting how the economy would fare.